[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 30, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNITION OF THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE

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                        HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 30, 2002

  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, twenty years is not a long time as historic 
institutions go in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but it's an epoch in a 
rapidly evolving field like biomedicine. In the past 20 years, science 
has begun to understand diseases, such as cancer and HIV/AIDS, at the 
molecular level and illuminated the processes that impel human growth 
and development. It has begun to use the regenerative powers of the 
body's own stem cells for therapeutic purposes.
  The Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been 
significantly involved in all these advances. Jack Whitehead, a 
visionary businessman and entrepreneur, made possible its creation. 
Endowed by a major gift from Mr. Whitehead, and with continuing support 
and guidance from the Whitehead family, the Whitehead Institute 
celebrates two decades of remarkable progress and looks forward to a 
future on the very frontiers of science.
  Researchers at Whitehead are among the Nation's best competitors for 
competitive research dollars. Often, their work pushes the boundaries 
of established academic disciplines and explores problems that are part 
chemistry, part biology, part engineering, part computing, not quite 
``owned'' or funded by any single field. Yet it is this kind of inquiry 
that often yields the greatest breakthroughs: the whole may be far 
greater than the sum of its parts. The Whitehead encourages and 
participates in imporant collaborations--between disciplines, between 
institutions, and even between countries.
  For the past 20 years, the Institute has developed innovative ideas 
and methods that have been adopted by the world scientific community. 
Perhaps the most noteworthy has been an entirely new way to sequence 
the human genome and uncover the genetic codes that make our bodies 
what they are. The Center for Genome Research at Whitehead was a 
principal contributor to the human gene map unveiled two years ago at 
the White House.
  While the Institute's reach is national and global, I want to note 
and commend its work in Massachusetts. Its distinguished staff finds 
time for an annual program of activities for high school teachers and 
students, helping them understand and benefit from their research. 
Every year, hundreds of local residents attend the Whitehead's science 
symposium and a regular series of colloquia on issues in science and 
public policy.
  On the occasion of its 20th Anniversary in 2002, Mr. Speaker, I am 
pleased to commend the generosity of the Whitehead family that created 
this great research institute and recognize also the many subsequent 
donors who have sustained it. The faculty and staff of the Whitehead 
Institute may take credit for many biomedical advances that promise to 
assuage human suffering and prolong human life. We can look forward 
with great anticipation to its future discoveries.




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